Bottle-capped Wine

First time seeing this.  Clearly brought the wrong tool.

Our Apartment in Kotor, Montenegro

The longest we have stayed in one particular place in the past five months.

http://youtu.be/YUzc1SzL0XM

A Final Farewell

Actually thought this would be our last night in Kotor…we ended up staying another week.  Difficult to describe the attraction and pull of this place until you are here.

http://youtu.be/bJpsQd2nBlE

Crab Feast #3

We dined on the king and his harem tonight.  We also have so many left over crab, we will take the day off tomorrow and just enjoy our last day in Kotor, Montenegro.  Came for two or three…stayed for ten.  That should be explanation enough of our high opinion of the place.

Posing with the 'King'

Saved the best for last, as we caught this largest of our 14 crabs on the final day.

Catching the King

As mentioned last night, we let the two largest of the day get away.  Went right back at their spot under the staircase of the pier today.  Caught his lady friend first.  Got a hold on him but he took the bait and escaped the first two times today.  Third time was the charm.  This guy dwarfs 12 of the 13 other crabs we have caught, and he is nearly the width of all four females from today put together.  Interesting to watch them quickly line up behind him in the sink while he stood there, pincers spread, protecting and defending them the entire time.  Until it was his turn to hop in the hot bath.

http://youtu.be/HhKSaTuBhhU

Crab Meat with Seafood Risotto

Seven of our fresh crab and seafood risotto with squid, potato, and zucchini.

Crab Feast #2

As with any good fishing tale, we swear the two really big ones were able to break our lines or steal our fish head bait and get away.  Just means they'll be that much bigger when we catch them tomorrow.  Also realizing we may just move to Kotor, the dramatic mountains, the sea, the old town, the general pace of life here.  If we could just eliminate the damn cruise ships and the noisy tourists that come along with them, not to mention the changes it causes to the fish behavior and the sheen of oil visible on the surface of the entire bay when there are several in port.
And we must admit, fishing (or crabbing) in Kotor Bay is almost unfair, something akin to fishing in an aquarium.  Or perhaps being invited over to a friend's house who has a fish tank, baiting a hook, and going 'fishing' there.  We've seen thousands of fish, endless crab, a stingray, and even an eel last night.  One crab took our bait, the eel stole it and had it in its mouth, tried to hook it and just missed.  Not sure if we'll ever leave this place.

Crab Catch #2

Even bought a three euro net to help us land the crabs straight from the water.  Really reduced the numbers we missed because they let go or slipped off the hooks once we tried to lift them out of the water.  The results speak for themselves.  We had to move the rinsing into the shower stall, just too many to put them all in the tiny kitchen sink.

http://youtu.be/a4HZuiwRnKE

Crab Feast

Tons of meat, legs, stomach, and other parts from our three crabs.  With some fresh squeezed lemon and pepper paste dipping sauce, we were both happy fishermen after a full day.  Here is the result of the carnage.

Posing with the Largest Crab

This guy put up a helluva fight during the afternoon.  Repeatedly I'd drop the baited hook directly in front or beside it, and he'd nab it and scramble under the rocks.  Holding on for dear life, literally, I was more than once unable to break it free from its hold.  Pulling as hard as I could without breaking the line, he'd just sit there, stubborn and unmoving.  Finally I had to ask Jihye to come double-team it with me.  We were both baiting and drawing it out and away from its covered safe haven.  Finally I was able to tug the line just right and catch its underbelly.  It put up a decent fight once on land too, and the pincers were incredibly powerful, I thought he was going to tear apart my leather sandals.  Into the plastic water bottle and into a bag until getting him home and keeping part of his largest pincer as a rather unique souvenir.

Our Self-Caught Dinner

Boiling Live Crab

Brought home our three live crab, set them in the freezer to calm them down a bit, and set a pot of water boiling with some salt.  When we had a full boil going, we dumped out and rinsed off the still dazed crab and tossed them in.  Less than ten minutes later they are perfectly cooked.  Into a sink of cold water so they don't overcook in their shells and straight onto the plate.

http://youtu.be/GycDi6tA0OE

Getting Serious

Fishing...err...Crabbing?!?

What started out as day three of our fishing adventure here in Kotor Bay quickly turned into a crabbing bonanza.  After landing one but watching it escape yesterday, it turns out that with our bait and limited supplies, we are better off tossing the hooks just off of the piers and trying to attract the greedy crabs to grab hold and try to land them that way.  Here is the actual first catch of the day.  First photo is it holding my hook under water.  A hilarious second photo of it hanging tightly onto my line as it reaches the surface of the water.  And the third of it upside down on the pier.  We panicked trying to figure out what the heck to do with it (yesterday's attempt to 'knock it out' with a short knife butt to the head was a disaster) but Jihye redeemed herself and saved the day, and dinner, by cutting a plastic water bottle in half and we held it down with my sandal, gave it a few shots to stun it, and then shoved it sideways into the bottle and closed it up.  Viola!

The Kindness of Strangers

We had been leap-frogging a local man all day long, going from pier to pier looking for fish.  Although we had shared several smiles and silent looks, and he probably had his hardest laugh in some time watching us scramble cluelessly, and ultimately lose, a crab we managed to catch, neither of us had said a word to each other.  As dusk turned towards darkness, he walked up and asked kindly, "Where's the fish?"  We had to point lamely at our leaking bread bag propped up between my two sandals and the two little fish inside.  He of course was carrying a bag literally tearing under the weight of so many decently sized fish.  "Do you like fish?", he asked.  I had a feeling that by saying 'yes'...he was going to offer his catch.  So I hesitated, but couldn't lie.  He immediately set the entire bag down and lied, "My family doesn't like to eat fish anyways."  Off he went despite our refusals to accept his entire day's efforts, and seemed to tell another local man who asked where his catch was, "I gave it to them, and nodded in our direction."  I'll repeat it until the day I die, the biggest lesson from traveling the world is the kindness of strangers.
We at least did him the honor of taking them straight home, scraping off the scales, and pan frying a few of them to perfection.

With Fish Like This...

Unfortunately our second day was not producing the kind of results we had expected.  Although we did land a crab that escaped and saw a stingray approach our bait twice.

Awaiting Cat

Damn...these cats are fiendish devils!  We've seen, and even posted a photo from Dubrovnik, Croatia, many times cats perched beside someone fishing.  Thought they would patiently wait, and hope to have a smaller catch charitably tossed to them at the end of a long day.  Not at all!!

This cat showed up about an hour into our half day of fishing, stretched out, and seemed to just sunbathe and cat nap the day away waiting.  When I landed my first catch thirty minutes later, I quickly pulled it up out of the water and swung it over and onto the concrete pier in order to not have it wriggle off the line and flop away as Jihye's first one had done.  No sooner did I swing it over and onto the concrete than the cat shrieked and POUNCED and already had it in its mouth.  I wasn't worried about losing the fish, but I was concerned about hooking a damn cat.  I barked out and pulled the line hoping the cat had not taking the hook yet.  Fortunately the fish had only suffered a bloody bite mark to the body and was still on the hook.  Jihye shooed away the cat and we were finally able to bag it.  This persistent and stubborn cat waited the entire evening well into dark hoping we would toss it a catch.  In the end, we released our four bagged fish.  Maybe show some manners next time, cat.

http://youtu.be/I8sVNNNtB-Q

Our 'Haul'

Hooked many more, but landed and bagged four.  In the end we decided to release them and just buy frozen squid to add to the pasta for dinner.  Certainly coming back tomorrow to catch some larger ones to make a spicy seafood stew or seafood pasta/risotto.  Wish us luck!